Konica Minolta did a survey in London and asked some people questions about printing. They found out that the people they surveyed didn’t know nothin’.

- Only 20% knew that printing with a laser printer is cheaper than printing with an inkjet
- One in ten didn’t know whether their printer was an inkjet or a laser
- Only 11% could guess roughly how long it would take a laser printer to print an 8 x 10 photo
- About half of them said they didn’t recycle their ink cartridges

Since this survey was done by Konica Minolta, the questions were slightly skewed. For instance, they were surprised that only 9% of people said they would print invoices in color and that only 40% of people would print presentations in color. The moral of the story for them was basically: why print just in black when you can use your Konica Minolta to print everything in color?

Aside from that, it was pretty interesting to see how many people recycled and how a lot of people don’t know much about laser printers. Keeping in mind that this was done in London and how the world of printing might be different over there, these numbers sound about right to us. Frankly, 47% seems like a pretty high percentage for the number of people recycling. It’s sad to say, but most people probably still just throw their cartridges away. As far as laser printers go, most people don’t realize that in the long run it is cheaper to use them. They just see the upfront costs and don’t realize that buying individual ink cartridges can quickly add up. But, since lately the cost of laser printers has gone down and the cost of ink has gone up, more people have begun to realize that laser printers can be used outside of the office.

Konica Minolta Survey Highlights Widespread Printer Confusion [Press Release]